Impact study for Wales gas project warns of reduced water quality

Dec 11, 2022 News

…Jagdeo defends site; says project will not cause contamination

Kaieteur News – Amid concerns that Guyanese will be at risk of cancer from the likely contaminating of the country’s water supply when the Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) project at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD) begins, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has assured that there will be no such consequence.

Jagdeo told Kaieteur News on Friday that Guyana’s main aquifer which is located below the Wales site, earmarked by Government for a NGL facility and a power plant to generate electricity, will not affect the quality of water reaching homes and even companies.

“The aquifer is intact, that’s part of the environmental studies, the aquifer is intact. We are running a pipeline (and) it’s not gonna contaminate the water supply. It will not, definitively not contaminate the water supply,” the Vice President assured.

However, research by this publication has confirmed that the water supply can be affected by this project.

Buried deep in Volume One of its almost 1500 words Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) or ExxonMobil Guyana, is a statement that says there will be degradation of the groundwater quality however these impacts would be negligible.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

The study was prepared by Environmental Resources Management (ERM), a Consultant firm that has completed most of the EIAs for the oil company to date in Guyana.

According to the study, “HDD [Horizontal Directional Drilling] is a trenchless construction method that uses drilling fluids under pressure. The potential impacts on groundwater resources from HDD operations are related to the potential loss of these drilling fluids from the HDD bore to the surrounding formation. With proper drilling fluid design and management, these losses are expected to be infrequent and—where they do occur—limited in a real extent.”

At the same time, it was also explained that, “In some cases, unforeseen circumstances can lead to an excessive loss of drilling fluid from the HDD bore to surrounding groundwater or to the ground surface, as a loss of this magnitude is a situation that is not reasonably expected to occur as part of planned Project activities.

In summary, the HDD bores that will be completed in the soils along the onshore pipeline corridor are not reasonably anticipated to result in effects to water quality in the shallow groundwater zones through which the HDD bores will pass. Further, the HDD operation will not involve withdrawal of groundwater, so there will not be any effect on groundwater availability associated with this Project activity. The intensity of this potential impact relative to degradation of groundwater quality is therefore rated as negligible during the Construction stage.”

In addition to this, ERM explained that there is a possibility for untreated wastewater to be released from the NGL Plant.

“The infiltrating water could include dissolved contaminants such as nitrates, phosphates and other nutrients, metals, hydrocarbons, biodegradable organic matter, and pathogenic microorganisms,” the study warned.

These constituents, the EIA continued, could infiltrate into soils and increase levels in the shallow water-bearing zone, which could then discharge to canals and potentially contribute to human health impacts, but only over a localized area it therefore again classified potential impacts on groundwater as low.

This major concern regarding the project was first raised by an environmental advocate and Geologist, Simone Mangal-Joly. Last week this newspaper reported that the location identified by the Government of Guyana for the country’s gas-to-energy project is unsuitable and will likely pose great danger to the country’s main groundwater aquifer.

An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials. Groundwater from aquifers is extracted using a water well.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently approved ExxonMobil’s pipeline and NGL Plant for Wales, in the absence of any updated studies.

Notably, a critical document to prove the safety of the area was never published. At the same time, the site at Wales sits above Guyana’s main groundwater aquifer that provides 90 percent of all the domestic and commercial water.

As such Geologist, Simone Mangal-Joly has labeled the approval of Exxon’s project “criminal”.

In an exclusive interview with this publication, the environmental advocate pointed out that: “When you look at that EIA, it says the impacts on the groundwater will be negligible. Nowhere in the world can you put a power plant and an NGL plant and a pipeline over ground water and it never gets seriously impacted. Basic common sense will tell you that upset conditions of spills etc. over the 30-year-life of such heavily polluting industries put the groundwater at high risk. And this is our most prized groundwater aquifer. Guyana’s coastal water supply comes mainly from the A Sand Aquifer, which lies below the Wales Estate.”

The Geologist explained that when hydrocarbon pollutants get into your water supply, they remain there permanently, and are cancerous, making the water unsafe for consumption.

The EPA on November 25 gave US oil giant, ExxonMobil its blessings to commence the US$1.3 billion Gas-to-Energy project that will allow for the construction of a natural gas pipeline, as well as a NGL facility and supporting infrastructure at Wales, West Bank Demerara.

While many stakeholders had raised concerns regarding the safety of the project, the EPA in its decision to grant the Permit, said the project’s EIA and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) have been declared acceptable, by the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) in accordance with section 11(13) of the Environmental Protection Act, Cap. 20:05.

“The EPA is satisfied that the project can be conducted in accordance with good environmental practices, and in a manner that avoids, prevents and minimizes any adverse effects which could result from the activity,” it said. Exxon has been granted a five year Permit by the agency, this means it will remain in effect until November 24, 2027. It will be renewed only after the Permit Holder submits an application form six months before its environmental authorisation expires.

Meanwhile, Government said the Permit for its 300 Megawatt Power Plant will be issued in a few weeks’ time.